VC investments hit record high of $1.44 bn in Jan-Sep: Study

New Delhi: Venture capital investments surged to an all time high to USD 1.44 billion by way of 323 deals in the first nine months of the year and Internet and mobile companies continued to attract maximum number of investments, a report says.

According to data from Venture Intelligence, the deal tally for VC investments at 323 deals worth USD 1,438 million have crossed the previous historical high of 2014 (which had witnessed 304 investments worth USD 1,170 million across the entire year).

Venture Capital is defined as the first to fourth round of investments of not more than USD 20 million each by financial investors into companies not more than 10 years old.

Moreover, during the three months ending September 2015, Venture Capital firms invested USD 536 million over 111 deals in India - again record figures for a single quarter.

The main action was concentrated in early stage investment segment which are defined as seed, first and second round investments in companies not more than five years old.

For the first time ever, the early stage segment attracted over USD 1 billion in investments in 2015 (USD 1,018 million across 266 investments in the first nine months) - compared to the previous high of USD 553 million (across 167 transactions) in 2011 (full year).

Meanwhile, internet and mobile companies continued to rule the roost. This industry accounted for 79 investment worth USD 376 million (71 percent of the VC investments in volume terms and 70 percent in value terms).

The larger deals within the IT sector include, Tiger Global's USD 20 million fresh investment in mobile-based news service News in Shorts and a similar amount attracted by engineering services BPO Allygrow in a round led by Zodius Capital.

Food and beverages companies were the second favorite destination for VC investors in the September quarter with six investments worth USD 27 million.

Restaurant chains were in particular favour with Goldman Sachs backing pan-Asian restaurant brand Mamagoto with a USD 10 million investment and tea chain Chai Point attracting a similar sized second round led by Eight Roads Ventures (formerly Fidelity Growth Partners).

The report said healthcare and life sciences companies attracted four investment worth USD 43 million).